KOCHI: Every Vijay film is received with much fanfare and the frenzy is not limited to Tamil Nadu. Kerala has many hardcore fans of the star and on the Diwali release of ‘Mersal’, they have uploaded a music video celebrating 25 years of ‘Vijayism’, as they call it.
“My friend Nahas gets super-excited whenever a Vijay film hits the screen,” says Anees Basheer who directed the video.
“When he approached me with the lyrics, we decided to do a music video and fortunately could get Rahul Nambiar on board as the singer.”
The music video is basically conceived as an anthem for Kerala Vijay fans and tries to recreate the release-day frenzy of ‘Mersal’. “It features Nahas with a group of dancers, caught in the excitement of Vijay’s Diwali release. For them, it’s a celebration bigger than any festival,” says Anees, speaking to Express after the FDFS of ‘Mersal’.
He adds it was an impromptu decision and so they didn’t get much time before the shoot. “Since the release date was fast approaching we had to hurry. The costumes were stitched in a day and the shoot was completed in five days. There was great teamwork as people in all departments were willing to put in extra hours,” he says.
A choreographer was also roped in as the team wanted fresh dance moves, instead of copying from old Vijay films. Anees adds they wanted an equal portion of Kerala and Tamil elements since it was Malayali fans dedicating a music video to the Tamil star.
“The lyrics were a mix of Tamil and Malayalam, celebrating Vijay films. You will find streaks of Vijay’s style, but apart from that all the dance steps are new,” he says. The song was instantly lapped up by the fan network in Kerala and it was screened at some theatres on the release day. “It was screened before the film in theatres in Kollam and Kottarakkara, and I hear the response was great,” he says.
The video, which was released three days back, is creating quite a buzz online with over 1.5 lakh Youtube hits. “We were not expecting such response. I got a lot of calls from Vijay fans in Chennai and even the producers of ‘Mersal’ got in touch. We hope Vijay sir will also be watching it sometime soon,” he says.